<v.
—.. II- ■
VOLUME THREE
FARM PRACTICES
NUMBER 52
Personalities
WILLIE L. MEASLEY
December Seventh Is a date
that most 'Americans today asso
ciate with Pearl Harbor and the
sneak attack the Japs pulled
there in 1941 but to Wfllie I».
Measley of Lenoir County’s Mos
ley Hall Township that date,
December 7, has another mean
ing that is a lot less unhappy
than the 1941 date.
On December 7, 1936, Measley
was sworn in for his first two
year term on the Lenoir County
Board off Commissioners and
since that tbne he has served
without Interruption on the
comity's top ruling board, for
IS of those It years he has been
chairman of the board, a Job
that he passed on to the Present
Chairman Deb Whitfield on the
atf
the
members were
Worthington, T. P.
eph Williams and 3.1>. Kilpat
rick.
In recent years there has been
no commissioner who has equal
led the record Measley has set.
of serving 16 consecutive years
on the rulemakers of the coun ty
government.
Measley is what is usually ac
cepted as a "self-made man:”
He started out in life with very
little property but with a will
ingness to work and a shrewd
business ability that has per
mitted him to become one of the
county’s “best fixed” farm own
ers. Today in addition to ex
tensive farm holdings, over
which he exercises an active
control, Measley is also engaged
In the operation of a cotton gin
In La Orange.
In spite of the considerable
pressure of his own affaiirs,
Measley has always managed to
give freely of his time to county
business and during the 16 years
he has been a member of the
board he. has seldom failed to
toe on hand when any discussions
of importance on county affairs
was toeing had.
Being able ^to satisfy the
voters of the entire county for
such a long period is a consid
erable distinction within itself
tout coming from Moseley Hall
Township where politics are tak
en in deadly seriousness and
where the political death rate
is alarming Measley has almost
performed a modern-day mir
acle by keeping the faithful of
his home township in line for
so long.
The first budget for the county
that Measley helped prepare was
1937-38 and it totalled Just
{342,960190. This figure has grown
through the years with the in
crease in services demanded
from the county and with the
decrease in the value of the in
dividual dollar. The all-time
high county budget was pre
pared with Meastey’s assistance
lor 1*47-48 reached $1,167,767.50
which was almost 390 per cent
higher than the first budget he
helped prepare. The current
budget has dropped considerably
down to 972^39.25 .which is due
to a falling oft to'aflsool house
con*
... . the
dollar and is always>Uned up on
the side of cutting the various
departmental budgets has In his
18 years on the hoard assisted
In the preparation of budgets
Which approved the spending of
$8,96*388.81, Which is a lot of
dollars even If they are deflated
today.
Measley Is currently engaged
in a fight for 'reelection, as he
seeks nomination to Ws ninth
term on the board. With 11 men
in the race for the five jobs on
the county board it is certainly
a little reckless to start making
predictions a month In advance,
hut It would not he too absurd
to say that Measley will not run
last by a long shot.
Work Progressing
On Tren^piver’s
Face-Ofting Job
Workers under the supervision
pf Jthe Army Corps of Engineers
are* moving along rapidly on the
much-needed and. long-delayed
cleaning out of Trent River
which was made possible by an
appropriation of $80,000 by the
Engineer Corps and another
$18,000 raised among property
owners In Jones County who own
land by Trent River.
The work was begun three
weeks ago at the Lenoir-Jones
County line and has been mov
ing, down stream rapidly and a
check recently at Pleasant Hill
repeal? that a thorough Job is
being done
Wlfek
was ct
f$s of Trenton who
of the committee
which rilsed the'$16,000 in J6neS
County «eys that the largest
^share of. comment he has heard
about ihe work has come not
from farmers but from fishermen
who are considering the advan
tages of being able to maneuver
a'boat from New Bern to the
County line In search of
More Business Going
“Across The River’1
The Jenklns-Jones Motor Com
pany has purchased the building
and area formerly used as the
body repair shop of the Carolina
Motor Company which Is located
about one mile from Kinston on
the Richl^nds highway. Plans
call for the conversion of this
building into a sales, service and
show room for Ford Tractors
which are distributed locally by
Jenkinp-Jones.
This addition of another trac
tor peddler to tb^ row that be
gins with West Machinery Com
pany in the edge of Kinston and
Includes the Turner Tractor and
Implement Company just across
the river and extends to Keith
Williams’ Kinston Tractor and
Implement Company makes this
■one and a half mile stretch of
road wClJ. able to take care of
just' about 'any tractor needs
;that njight arise.
‘To “feed the multitudes” that
.will be buying tractors and/ sell
ing, tobacco "across the river” Ed
Smith Is Spotting up a-first class
drive-in eatery just south of the
Co-op. Warehouse and will be
“feeding” la
Kinston Aldermen Bow Before
Pressures of Merchant Groups
Lenoir Board Gets Look
At 52-53 Budget Figures
me Lenoir county comimisssion
ersmeeting Monday had as Its
first and biggest order of the
day the job of listening to the
city and county school budgets
as presented by City Superin
tendent Jean Booth and County
Superintendent Henry Bullock.
The city asked for a total of
$564,666.28 and the county
schools are wanting $370,920 for
the coming year, making a total
of $935,586.28 that will have to
be raked up in one way or anoth
er to keep reading, riting and
rithmetic program going during
the next budget period.
County Welfare Superintend
ent R. W. Tyndall also handed
in a summary of what he thinks
his department’s needs for the
next year will be and that
totalled another $179,00 of these
currently deflated dollars.
The board voted to waive li
cense fees for a group of four
blind merchants that operate
shops in Lenoir County and lis
tened to Yates Creech of the
Kinston Production Credit As
sociation explain why he thought
that his unit of the United States j
Department of Agriculture should ‘
be included in the office build
ing now being added to the
ag building at King and McLew
ean Streets.
The boafd passed a resolution
approving the interest rate on
bonds recently sold to apply to
ward the construction of Me
morial General Hospital.
The board also approved re
negotiated contracts for the
plumbing and electric work on
the ag building addition and this
work went to Bill Stapleford
and Horace Ervin.
Small Grain Field Day
To Be Held Tuesday At
Jones County Seed Farm
•pne mvis-speignt seed farm,
which, is known among Jones
Oouhtains as Ravenswood Farm
will be the^cene lot a small
grains field day next Tuesday,
May 18, beginning P
aradtf^rymintb^Mi^S^^ftiie
state who is interested in the
profitable production of small
grains is urged to atend the
event.
A number of- small grain ex
periments are now underway at
the farm. These experiments
show the part that (1) time of
seeding (2) grain varieties (3)
fertilization and (4) time of top
dressing play in the successful
production of small grains! Stor
age and marketing problems will
also be discussed and a special
new type steel storage bin will
be on exhibit at the farm dur
ing this field day.
The event is sponsored by the
Extension Department, the. Ex
periment Stotion with the co
operation of the Davis-Speight
farm owners.
Jones Board Holds
Quiet Session on
First Monday in May
The Jones County Board of
»doners held a quiet rou
lon on this past Monday
members of the board in
attendance, Including Chairman
J. W. Creagh Jr., Thomas Stilley,
Harold Mallard, James Barbee
and Paul Westbrook.
A resolution was ordered ad
dressed to the Atlantic Coast
Line Railroad in which it is
asked that the right-of-way of
the company be sprayed with
chemicals to assist In the effort
to bring the white fringed beetle
under control in the county.
County Auditor E. E. Franck
! made a report on delinquent
' tax collections and after County
Attorney George Hughjs had
made a report on his investiga
tion of the requested reduction
of the tax valuation of a tract
of land owned by J. P. Taylor
the board voted to keep the same
values on this tract.
Fountain Managers in Lenoir
A. H. “Rootsy” Jef/rcss and A. Fovrest Waller, two of
Lenoir County’s best known young men, will jointly manage
the campaign in their home county for L. H. Fountain of
Tarboro who is seeking to unseat John Kerr of Warrenton
from the* United States House of Representatives. Jeffress
was recently named commander of the American. Legion Post
in Kinston and Waller is a member of the conuty board of
education.
Monday night a jampacked
city hall audience had headaches
for the city council. First Will
iam Henry Moore, speaking for
the Citizens Welfare League
made a strong case for the re
tention of the present Adkin
Park as a part of the recrea
tional system for Negroes in
Kinston. A spokesman for the
recreation commission told this
group that this was the intent
and hope of the recreation com
mission that this park could be
added to the campus of Adkin
High School and the larger 35
acre park now under study could
also be bought so that future
generations would have a suit
able and adequate play area.
Roger Sutton, a spokesman for
Queen Street merchants said
that his group was in favor of
cutting a section of the side
walk off Queen street and going
back to diagonal parking. Sut
ton was followed by a dozen or
so merchants who more or less
repeated his suggestion.
Then Allen Bowden, spokes
man for Heritage Street mer
chants, came forth and restated
his wish for two-way traffic on
Heritage Street.
When thg shooting had clear
ed away the City Council voted
to return two-way traffic to all
present one-way streets except
McLewean and Atlantic Avenue
effective next Monday morning.
ine council was very nai m
stating that it was not about to
cut a section of Queen Street
off and it appears that if the
Queen Street merchants want a
more narrow strip of sidewalk
they will have to elect com
pletely different board of aider
men.
Aside from the tremendous
cost of cutting the sidewalk off
it was pointed out by Alderman
Jesse Pugh Wooten that every
inch of the present sidewalk is
needed and at times evert a
little more could be used.
The board voted to extend the
jurisdiction of the city planning
commission to one mile beyond
the present city limits and nam
ed four residents in that area.
In this group are Wilbur King,
Mrs. Speight Stroud, Joe Shack
leford, and Beck Bland. In the
future all subdivisions developed
in this area or in the present
city limits must first have the
approval of the city utilities de
partment before presentation to
the council. This move is aimed
at duplication of sewer, water
and electric lines which may be
caused by failure of different
property owners tying in their
developments.
Patrol Report is
Made by Sergeant
Sgt. John Laws, commanding
officer of District Five of Troop
A, this week released a report
of activities under his direction
during the month of April in
Pitt, Greene and Lenoir Coun
ties, showing that a total of 470
arrests for traffic violations had
been made.
Lenoir County’s five patrolmen
accounted for 230 of this 470
total with 21 reported accidents
that involved injuries to eight
persons. No fatalities were re
ported for the month in Lenoir
County but Pitt County had two
highway deaths during the pe
riod.
The estimated property dam
age in Lenoir County ran to
$10,510. For the three-coUnty
area the estimated property
damage for the 59 reported ac
cidents was $29,515.